Onsite wastewater treatment system installed at Ramona School District

LOCATION: San Diego, CA
DESCRIPTION: Integrated Water Services, Inc. (IWS) constructed and started-up a decentralized wastewater facility for the Ramona Unified School District (San Diego County) at the newly constructed Hanson Elementary School.

Setting 15,000 Gallon Tank

Orenco AX-100 Textile Filtration Unit

Septic, recirculcation, and dosage tanks

Hanson Elementary School – Ramona, CA

Integrated Water Services, Inc. (IWS) constructed and started-up a decentralized wastewater facility for the Ramona Unified School District (San Diego County) at the newly constructed Hanson Elementary School this past Summer. The system was constructed in a four week period and included the collection system, storage tanks, treatment system, and drain field utilizing Geoflow tubing and emitters. IWS completed the project on schedule and worked with the client in coordinating site activities to accommodate the various trades working on-site.

High Strength Waste Stream
The system was designed to handle the high strength waste stream projected for the school, with a peak design flow of 3,645 gallons per day. The client elected to use an onsite advanced treatment system due to several factors: a) the high cost to extend the city sewer to the site, and b) opposition from residents to extending the sewer to their community. IWS worked closely with the county, general contractor, vendor, and engineer to assure all construction was performed to specifications. Working together with the Biosolutions, Inc. vendor’s for the wastewater treatment and tanks, a successful start-up was completed and the system was activated on schedule in December 2004.

The 15,000 gallon septic tank retains the solids as the primary tank, while allowing the effluent wastewater to flow into the recirculation tank. Water is pumped from the recirculation tank to the two, Orenco AX-100 fabric filtration units. Once treated, a portion of the wastewater is returned to the recirculation tank, while the balance is introduced into the dosing tank. From the dosing tank, the treated wastewater is dispersed to the drip field. All aspects of the system operation are automated through a control panel adjacent to the treatment area, which is monitored continuously via a telemetry based system.

The wastewater treatment equipment was incorporated into the planned landscaping and parking areas on-site, minimizing the space impact to the school facilities. The underground storage tanks were placed under the main parking areas, and treatment units were placed in a landscaped area adjacent to the parking lot.